BEFORE THE DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES

                        REDRESSAL FORUM, JALANDHAR.

                                                            Complaint  No.18 of 2016

                                                            Date of Instt. 07.01.2016

                                                            Date of Decision: 08.08.2017

Taswinderpal Singh son of Jaswant Singh r/o 134-A, Mohalla Ajit Nagar, Kapurthala.

                                                                        ..........Complainant                                                                  Versus

1.       Salwan Hospital Through Dr. Sanjeev Salwan, MD Doctor in           Charge 15, Dilbagh Nagar, Basti Gujjan (Near Baba Balaknath           Mandir) Jalandhar.

2.       Dr. Sanjeev Salwan, MD c/o Salwan Hospital 15, Dilbagh Nagar,           Basti Gujjan (Near Baba Balaknath Mandir) Jalandhar.

                                                                             ….… Opposite parties

          Complaint Under the Consumer Protection Act.

Before:         Sh. Karnail Singh, (President),

                    Sh.Parminder Sharma         (Member)

Present:        Sh. Haranmol Singh, Adv Counsel for complainant.

                    Sh. Umesh Dhingra, Adv Counsel for OP No.1 and 2.

Order

                    Karnail Singh (President)

1.                 This complaint presented by the complainant, wherein alleged that he is retired from Army and doing his work at Kapurthala. On 28.03.2015, at about 12:15 pm, the complainant went to OP No.1/hospital for his normal checkup for minor problem and disclosed the OP No.2 before check up that he is normal patient of diabetic for some time. After check up, the OP No.2 advised the complainant to take prescribed some home made medicines on the prescription slip of OP No.1 hospital and advised him to take the same to cure his diabetic and other problem. As prescribed and instructed by OP No.2, the complainant took the said medicine from the hospital and consumed the first done on 30.03.2015 at about 10:00 am. Immediately after consuming the said dose, the complainant started feeling restlessness within no time. At the first instance, the complainant did not pay much attention to the same, but when the said trouble become un-comfortable within no time, the complainant rang the OP No.2 on telephone to which the OP No.2 intimated to the complainant that the same would be the result of overdose of the prescribed medicine. He further advised the complainant on telephone to take some sugar and as prescribed the complainant consumed sugar but still continued to remain restless.

2.                 That after few minutes thereof the complainant felt that the trouble is increasing more and more and he started feeling more and more restlessness. Alongwith that the complainant also started feeling breathlessness and sweating. The son of the complainant found that the tongue of the complainant has turned blue black in colour on account of consumption of the said medicine as the condition of the complainant started worsening, the son of the complainant immediately took him to Civil Hospital Kapurthala for check up. The concerned doctor on duty in Civil Hospital, Kapurthala, after examining his condition to be quite serious advised his son and wife to take the complainant immediately to some better hospital for better treatment at Jalandhar without wasting of time and then immediately the son and wife of the complainant took the complainant to Oxford Hospital, Jalandhar, where he was admitted and performed various test, wherein it was found that the BP of the complainant has gone very low upto 60/40 mmhg, heart beat into 38 per minute and chest and heart were completely blocked. That after complete check up, concerned doctor of Oxford Hospital opined that the said trouble has happened on account of dose of the medicine prescribed by OP No.2. It is stated here that the homely made medicines prescribed and purchased by the complainant from OP No.1 hospital bear no details of makers, contents thereof or other requirements. It does not disclose the salt of the medicine, which is pre condition for the sale of such medicines. It also does not disclose any manufacturing date or expiry date etc. Although OPs have ECG and other facilities but at no point of time, such test was performed. No effort was made by OPs to get the complainant admitted in the hospital for physical and clinical observations, rather on account of negligent act on the part of the OP is not getting the requisite test done and rather prescribing un-konwn medicines, resulted into cardio logical shock and blockage of heart of the complainant. It is not out of place to mention here that the complainant is already handicap person having problem in one leg while defending nation when serving in Army but now has undergone heart problem on account of sheer negligence on the part of OPs with which he is supposed to live in the remaining part of his life. The complainant has suffered a lot at your hands due to negligence on the part of OPs and causing him financial loss of more than Rs.1 lakh in getting requisite treatment from the other hospital and suffered a lot for health, which cannot be completed in terms of money and even a legal notice dated 23.07.2015 was served but no action was taken by the OP and as such necessity arose to file the present complaint with the prayer that the complaint of the complainant may be accepted and OPs be directed to pay a sum of Rs.5 lakh as compensation on account of suffering mental agony and harassment to the complainant and further OPs be directed to pay Rs.22,000/- as litigation expenses.

3.                 Notice of the complaint was given to the OPs and accordingly both the OPs appeared and filed their joint written reply, whereby contested the complaint by taking preliminary objections that the present complaint is bad for mis-joinder of unnecessary party No.2. There is no hospital in existence in the name of Salwan Hospital since long as such the OP No.2 has been misjoined and has been arrayed in the present complaint. The OP No.1 i.e. the hospital of OP No.2 has been closed in January, 2015 and further averred that the present complaint is liable to be dismissed out-rightly because in the complaint the complainant has even not mentioned anything regarding the wrong treatment or suffering any kind of problem due to the treatment. The complaint is totally vague, imaginary, hypothetical and ambiguous, therefore the same is liable to be dismissed with special compensatory cost and further alleged that the present complaint is not maintainable under Law and even no cause of action accrued to the complainant for filing the present complaint and further alleged that it is settled principle of law that a medical practitioner cannot be held negligent without expert opinion. In the present complaint, there is no expert opinion. The complainant has not placed on record any expert opinion either from a specialist of similar branch or from the medical board constituted by the Government or from the Government Institute in order to substantiate the allegations made in the complaint. On merits, all the averments as made in the complaint are categorically denied and further submitted that the complainant visited the OP No.1 on 28.03.2015 in his clinic with a complaint of suffering from diabetic and High Blood Pressure for a long period. The complainant was already on medication under the advise of doctor of Military Hospital for hypertension and diabetes. On examination of the complainant, his sugar was extremely high with 450 mg/dl, wherein normal sugar of a person should be 110-170 mg/dl. The patient/complainant was referred to the OP No.2 by his close relatives who is settled abroad and is happened to be well known to the OP No.2. As per the memory of the OP, the complainant was having one leg, who came alongwith his wife by driving scooter himself from Kapurthala to Jalandhar to the OP No.2. Accordingly, the patient was examined and on investigation, he was found High Blood Pressure and Higher level of Sugar as such the complainant was prescribed with medicines, which are well mentioned on the prescribed slips but the patient did not visit the OP thereafter and lastly prayed that the complaint of the complainant is without merit and the same may be dismissed.

4.                 In order to prove the case of the complainant, counsel for the complainant tendered into evidence affidavit of complainant Ex.CA alongwith some documents Ex.C1 to Ex.C14 and closed the evidence.

5.                 Similarly counsel for the OP No.1 and 2 tendered into evidence affidavits Ex.OP1/A and Ex.OP1/B and closed the evidence.

6.               We bestowed our thoughtful consideration to the submissions made by learned counsel for the respective parties and also gone through the case file very minutely.

7.               The learned counsel for the complainant vehemently argued that the complainant Taswinderpal Singh is retired from Army and he visited the hospital of OP No.2 on 28.03.2015 at 12:15 P.M for general check up of a minor problem and after medical check up, the respondent No.2 advised the complainant to take prescribed medicine and prescription slip was issued to the complainant which is Ex.C1 and accordingly the complainant purchased the medicine from the hospital of the OP No.2 but when the complainant took the said medicine on 30.03.2015 at about 10:00 am then immediately he become uncomfortable within no time and even he asked the OP No.2 on telephone to which he recommended that this could be due to overdose of the prescribed medicine and further advised the complainant on telephone to take some sugar and accordingly the complainant consumed sugar but problem of the complainant persisted and after few minutes, complainant started feeling more and more restlessness and also feeling breathlessness and sweating. Thereafter the son of the complainant found that the tongue of the complainant has turned blue black in colour and as such the complainant was brought to Civil Hospital by his son, where doctor checked the complainant and advised his son to take the complainant immediately to some better hospital for better treatment at Jalandhar and then they immediately rushed to Oxford Hospital, Jalandhar, where he was admitted and performed various tests, wherein it was found that the blood pressure of the complainant has gone very low, heart beat into 38 per minute and chest and heart were completely blocked. After check up, the concerned doctor of Oxford Hospital opined that the said problem has happened on account of dose of the medicine prescribed by OP No.2 because the said medicine is homely made medicines without details of makers, contents and salt of the said medicine and accordingly the complainant got the treatment of the heart from cardiologist in the Oxford Hospital, Jalandhar and record of the said treatment is brought on the file Ex.C3 to Ex.C14 and further submitted that there is a negligence for giving a home made medicine to the complainant and therefore the complainant is entitled for compensation of Rs.5,00,000/-.

8.                 To the contrary, the learned counsel for the OP submitted that the instant complaint has been filed by the complainant just to harass and blackmail the OP with some ulterior motive and even no cause of action accrued to the complainant to file the instant complaint against the OP and as per settled law that a medical practitioner cannot be held negligent without expert opinion but in the present complaint, there is no expert opinion even the complainant has not placed on record any expert opinion either from a specialist of similar branch or from the medical board constituted by the Government or from the Government Institute in order to substantiate the allegations made in the complaint and further submitted that the complainant visited the clinic of OP No.2 on 28.03.2015 and at that time he was suffering from diabetic and high blood pressure for a long period and he was already on medication under the advise of doctor of Military Hospital. On examination of the complainant by OP No.2, his sugar was extremely high with 450 mg/dl, whereas normal sugar of a person should be 110-170 mg/dl and further submitted that the OP No.2 has not given any home made medicine rather the medicine given to the complainant are allopathic medicine, which are very recognized and used to give the patient of like that diseases and he further referred the names of the  medicines as under:-

                  (I) Tab Pioz (For Controlling Sugar)

                  (II) Tab Bloom (Iron)

                  (III) Tab Yoloz (Antacid)

                  (IV) Tab Gemer (For Sugar)

                  (V) Tab Glucovit (Glucosamine + Magnisium)

                  (VI) Tab Etopress (For Blood Pressure)

                  (VII) Tab Glocal (Calcium)

                  (VIII) Tab Celing (Vitamin C)

9.                 The counsel for the OP further submitted that the complainant was advised to come up  for follow up after one month but the complainant never conveyed that there was any complication occurred to the complainant and further submitted that neither the doctor of Civil Hospital, Kapurthala nor any doctor of Oxford Hospital, Jalandhar have mentioned in any record that the heart problem occurred to the complainant due to the medicine given by the OP No.2 and as such there is no deficiency in service on the part of the OP No.2.

10.               We have considered the respective submission of the learned counsel for the respective party and also gone through the record and find that the main allegation of the complainant is that the OP No.2 gave home made medicine, which was purchased by him from the hospital of the OP but in order to establish that the complainant had purchased the said medicine from the hospital of the OPs, there is no invoice/bill of the hospital of the OP, where from we can ascertain that the said medicine was purchased from the hospital of the OP, no doubt the photostat copy of prescription slip is placed on the file Ex.C1 and the said medicines have been duly mentioned in detail by the OP in his written statement in para No.1 on merit and where from it is clear that the medicine, so recommended by OP No.2 is not a  home made medicine rather these are allopathic medicine and even the specific purpose has been also mentioned for what purpose which medicine is given and we find that there is no nexus of these medicine with the heart problem, moreover the complainant is known case of diabetic and high blood pressure and whenever these types of problems  are occurred and sugar level is 450 ml/dl then there are chances to occur a heart problem, the sugar level of the complainant i.e. 450 ml/dl has been mentioned in the prescription slip Ex.C1 and no doubt the complainant got treatment from Oxford Hospital, Jalandhar and where he remained admitted from 30.03.2015 to 03.04.2015 as per summary discharge slip Ex.C3 and permanent pacemaker implantation was also done by the doctor but the past history of the complainant has been mentioned in the said discharge slip i.e. Diabetes Mellitus Hypertension and no where doctor of the Oxford Hospital mentioned that the said heart problem occurred due to the medicine given by the OP No.2, if so then, we cannot construe that the heart problem occurred to the complainant due to that medicine, if so then, there is no negligence or deficiency of service on the part of the OP.

11.               We have also considered the judgment referred by learned counsel for the complainant, which is cited in 2011(4) CPJ 69, title V. Pushamala (Dr.) and another Vs. K. Gangadharan and another. After going through the contents of this judgment of the Hon'ble National Commission, we find that the facts of this judgment are not applicable in this complaint. Therefore we do not find any force in the argument put forth by learned counsel for the complainant and therefore the complaint of the complainant is dismissed with no order of cost. Parties will bear their own cost. Complaint could not be decided within stipulated time frame due to rush of work.

12.               Copies of the order be supplied to the parties free of cost, as per Rules. File be indexed and consigned to the record room.

Dated                               Parminder Sharma                  Karnail Singh

08.08.2017                     Member                                 President